I'm not real happy with my distortion sound. I got a Danelectro Mini pedalboard set-up that includes a distortion, chorus, tremelo, delay and compressor. They have a few cool little pedals, but I want a better distortion sound - what setup do you guys use?

I use a Zoom 707 II Multi-FX pedal...so far I have no complaints with the sounds it produces. To get real good sounds its taken a good few hours of tweaking, but I've found the sounds I like. I also use a Dunlop Crybaby Wah, because the expression pedal on the Zoom unit lacks range I find.

My #1 guitar is a Fender Strat, and my amp is an 80 Watt Peavey Bandit. I find it to be a nice versatile setup, especially on the limited budget I have. I found the Zoom 707 helps beef up the single coils on my Strat for rock/metal sounds, which has saved me a lot of expense and woodwork

I always buy excellent cables too...good cables are a must.

my next pedal investment is going to be a FuzzFace...I really want one sooooo bad...

Rowdy said:

I used to have the Zoom 505, but hated it. Fine for recording, but not for gigs. I also use a strat as my main guitar and have an 80 watt Peavey Bandit. I have a Morley wah, though. AND I was just looking at getting a Fuzzface this past Friday.....coincidence?

I use a couple of different things, one in particular is a Boss tube pedal that I'm digging on big time right now....


But honestly, I'm still tinkering with my pedals--I'm always looking for something else...





Jshua

Any sites that sell pedals that also have sound clips of them in use?

I use a Line 6 Duoverb amp which has a pedal board for switching between amp models. It has a volume/wah pedal and I love that feature. With that I use a Rat distortion (the original kind) Boss flanger (BR-2) and a Boss Mega Distortion. I use a Gibson Les Paul Melody Maker.

I got a Boss DS-1 Distortion. I like Boss' pedals, some people say they're too noisy but they sound good. I also have the DD-6 Digital Delay which is like an instrument in itself if you use it totally. I've got a Crybaby Wah, DOD Chorus, and a MXR Phase 45 from the late 60's/early 70's.

I go hard core homes. I have a Maxon Tube Screamer. THE Tube Screamer. "but wait, jackass - that's IBANEZ". BZZZZ WRONG. Ibanez used Maxon pedals and put their name on it. This is the original Tube Screamer.

Why would i go on so much about the stupid thing? Because THIS THING ROCKS. I had a Zoom 707, a Johnson J-Station, and an Ibenhad Tube Screamer (late 90s model) and hated them all. The one I use now is awesome - reacts to your guitar volume - so you turn down and the distortion cleans up like it's supposed to. You turn up and it breaks through. But brace yourself - they go for $175 new. Got mine off of ebay for $99. I'm a cheapass. I can't believe ANYONE would pay over $80 for any guitar pedal. It's worth every dime, I'm learning.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eB...gory=22669

I had a Danelectro Compressor (Grilled Cheese? Why do they use stupid names?) but I'm not too happy with it.

I'm pretty much just the Maxon and a Crybaby Wah, and a 72 Fender Deluxe Reverb. I Scream.
[This message was edited Tue Mar 2 22:30:09 2004 by otan]

I'm a bit of a fool for pedals. Here's my lot. (By the way, can anyone recommend a good pedalboard?)


Digitech PDS 1002 delay -- With two seconds' delay time, this was hot about 15 years ago!

DOD Super American Metal -- great for dirty distortion, but does a massive crunch, too

Dod Super Envelope -- great for weird, Bootsey bass sounds. Me likes. Me likes.

Ibanez Tubescreamer -- the cheap one -- this gives my HRDeluxe a nice blues sound

Ross Phaser -- my first pedal, when I knew about the sound, but not the wah

Crybaby -- when I finally figured it out

Arion Flanger -- pretty nice flange sounds

Boss Harmonist -- great for Diamonds & Pearls stuff or that Jesse Johnson octave sound.

Boss Tremolo -- oh, this nails that Clapton sound. Very deep and slow, but mono.

I use a Boss BCB60 pedal board loaded with a Boss AW2 Autowah, Boss Noise Suppressor, Boss Compressor -Sustainer, Boss Turbo Distortion, Boss Super Phaser and Boss DD2 Digital Delay. Oh and a Boss tuner. Gets me any sound I want. (I have more pedals but these just do it for me right now).

I have a ZOOM GFX-8 guitar processor. It's great, i plan to buy boss pedals in the future and sell my guitar processor, but the sound is great, but it's never as good as analog. But the sounds is very good to live gigs too, it's not noisy, and can emulate any sound you want. THe high points are the distortions, the low points are the clean sounds and some effects like pitch shifter that sounds artificial..

For overdrive/distortion I use the Visual Sound Jeckyl & Hyde. Very cool pedal. The green side is supposed to be sort of tube screamer-y and the red side is Marshall-y. You can also cascade the two and get into Mesa Boogie territory. Its the cooles, most versatile floor unit I've ever found. I run it into a 30 watt tube Marshall artist head and I'm golden. I've never been a big fan of distortion or fuzz- just pure overdrive for me!

I also recommend the Dunlop Roto-vibe. I don't think they make them any more. Mine is old. Its mushy and squishy and warm and yet somehow it floats your guitar to the front of the mix (if you want it to a be there). A very cool, very mojo pedal.

I'm thinking of adding a phasor... any recommendations?

krebsne said:

Hey I read about those pedals - they just upgraded the switch because of the noise/click when you're switching between them or something.

Everyone loves their pedals, but I'm curious what did they go through before settling on that pedal?

Because - funny thing here - I started back in 1983 with a TUBE SCREAMER! and went to a ProCo Rat box, then umm, the lame-o Digitech double distortion (yellow box. what a lemon!) then the 90's version of the Tube Screamer, and then recently switched to the Maxon 808 - which is exactly the box that I started out with.

Yo man I only use a Roland (BOSS) DS-2 Turbo Distortion pedal and a Tech 21 Sans Amp Classic. Thats the main shit for Kurt Cobain and thats why thats all I use. you'll always be satisfied, if you know what I mean

just keeping it real

masetumpak said:

He also used a shotgun, you may want to refrain

"keepin it real"

Slave2daGroove said:

I hear the syringe is what gave him that grungy tone.

Okay, no- serious. I heard that he recorded "Nevermind" direct. You can tell - which is what makes the record so successful, in my opine.
[This message was edited Wed Mar 3 16:08:09 2004 by otan]

Boss GT-6.

I use the "American Distortion" patch which is supposed to be modeled after the "Rat". I just eq it to taste and I use a little hall reverb for regular distortion.

One way to get a nice Edward or Vai-ish tone is use two delays. One at 240ms and the other at 780ms both set really low. It adds a "studio sound" without overdoing it.

Careful or they'll call the delay police on you.

For that Prince "Sign O The Times/Luvsexy Live" tone I use 480ms of delay with I guess 25% feedback or repeats.

Always come back and check out your tone a day later because delay sounds good one day and the next day you'll be like "OMG."

This is a Public Service Annoucement: Beer and delay are a dangerous combination when used incorrectly.

We had a soundman that enjoyed "Corona" and 252ms of delay in tandem.

Over the years I've used and gotten rid of: Boss Ds-1 (I re-bought one years later), Ibanez TS-8 tubescreamer, Ibanez TS-9 tubescreamer, Ibanez Wah, Ibanez fuzz-wah, Ibanez compressor, Ibanez Delay, Dunlop JH Fuzz, Boss Fuzz, Zoom 9001 effects unit, DOD multi fx unit, MXR dynacomp, Dunlop jimi hendrix wah, DOD phasor. Then there's some pedals I like to have lying around but don't use a lot. The amazing thing is that at one time or another, each of these machines sounded absolutely fantastic to my ears! Though I'll admit I bought the TS-8 because of peer pressure from the guitar mags, never liked the thing.

otan said:

I run a Fender Tele/ Ibanez JS1000 thru this setup:
Boss V-Wah ( some times I just switch it with a Vox wah)
Boss DS-1 distortion
Danelectro reverse delay
Line 6 modulation ( current settings are phaser, tremolo, ring modulator, flanger)
Danelectro psycho flange
Digitech Whammy II
Boss DD-2 delay

I also have a Digitech talker (bad ass!) and a Line 6 synthpedal.

If you have access to a ring modulator- please try it in combo with wah.
Play a few blues licks with artificial harmonics- it will get serious attention!
I use a Carvin legacy half stack and switch between with a fender bassman.

Boom....

I love simple setups.
If I could get away with it, i'd use the Angus Young approach.
Guitar-cord-amp, end of story.

After I got rid of my Maestro Phase Shifter, Mutron II and Mutron Bi-Phase (obviously many moons ago), I became an anti-pedal snob until recently. For the longest I only used rack mount gear (Art Programmable EQ to match the Ultrasonic pickups in a Strat and a Yamaha SPX-90II for a little color).

Using Boogie rigs through the years exclusively (outside of a JC-120),

Heartbreaker - 100 watt head & 2x12 cabinet
Quad Preamp/Simul 295 Stereo Amp
Mark IIC combo amp

for my sound, I never needed any pedals. However when doing gigs across the states or even out of the country, obviously the Boogies aren't making those trips.

Consider a Johnson J-Station which has worked out really well for me.
Be prepared to do some tweaking to get it to sound like you need it to.
If you'd like to deal with one device instead of 3 to 6, check it out.

Hope this helps.

All my amps are cranked for the distortion as I love tubes wide open. I just attenuate and use the guitar volume to go clean and dirty. I don't think I could go back to ther multi channel stuff, it just doesn't breath as well.
The line up is a 96 Marshall Plexi RI set to 68 specs.
1971 Traynor Bassmaster also plexied a bit.
1972 Carlsbro TR 60, very cool Hiwatt meets Marshall vibe
1986 PV Butcher, a 200.00 pawn shop score that is a hell of a JCM 800 copy. Very cool
Also have a POD for those lazy days.


I have a BOSS ME50 which has served me really well except for a couple issues. The Phase and Univibe FX are very cool The Ring Mod is the best I have heard from new stuff. Very 3D. I mainly use it for a bit of delay and verb. With presets there is a short delay when switching patches and it bugs the hell out of me for live use. As a result I have a Line 6 modulation box for the swirly stuff ( mostly very cool) and my trusty Crybaby for the wah.

Ok, in my search for some kind of better distortion pedal I went to the local music store and tried a few out. There was a Boss Super Distortion, some kind of DOD Grunge and Metal pedals, the Big Muff, some Guytone OD pedal and some others. But the one that I liked the best was one that I had already bid on on Ebay a couple of days ago - the Danelectro Fab Tone! A close second was the Big Muff. I seem to remember that at one time Prince, and you can all correct me if I'm wrong, did use a Fab Tone along with his Boss setup. There was no Tube Screamer or Rat or Turbo Distortion for me to try, either.